With reinforcements coming, Brewers 'bobbing and weaving' to stay in hunt

MILWAUKEE – One of the many jobs of a Major League manager is to exude optimism when reasons for pessimism abound. Take the Brewers, who went 21 innings without scoring a run before finally breaking through to tie Saturday’s game in the third inning, only to have the Cubs answer with a pair of homers in a four-run fourth on the way to sending Milwaukee to a 6-2 loss at American Family Field.

The Brewers are down at the moment. Manager Pat Murphy knows it. His club has lost seven of its last 10 games, including three in a row. The last two losses were at the hands of the rival Cubs, who lead the National League in scoring and spent Saturday night roughing up Brewers starter Jose Quintana, the veteran left-hander who yielded as many home runs -- three -- as he’d allowed runs, period, over his first four Milwaukee starts.

The Brewers have baseball’s lowest average exit velocity at the plate and the NL’s second-highest bullpen ERA. They have yet to win a game when the opponent scores first (0-12). Yet Murphy spent Saturday trying to be positive.

“It seems like we’ve misplaced our edge,” Murphy said. “Some of that is being behind. Still, it seems like we’ve misplaced our edge, we’re not playing with confidence.

“I’m not losing hope. I’m not worried about it. I know who these people are, so I’m confident they will find it.”

The Cubs are creating urgency with the way they’re hitting -- and winning. With a go-ahead, three-run homer from scorching-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong and solo shots from Dansby Swanson and Kyle Tucker, Chicago has pushed the Brewers five games back of first place in the NL Central with a little more than one-fifth of the season in the books.

“Luckily, this is early still. I don’t want to fall into that, because at some point it’s not early,” said Rhys Hoskins, who teamed with Brewers closer Trevor Megill for Milwaukee’s highlight of the day in the fourth inning when Hoskins homered to the home bullpen and Megill caught the baseball in his cap and did a little dance.

Once again, it was a fleeting moment. Tucker, the biggest acquisition of the Cubs’ busy offseason, led off the next half-inning with a home run. It was the last of Chicago’s six earned runs and seven hits off Quintana, whose ERA grew from 1.14 to 2.83.

“I think they have really good momentum right now,” Quintana said. “They are really good, for sure. A good lineup, deep lineup. They took advantage of a couple of mistakes tonight in the zone.”

The Cubs are Freddy Peralta’s problem on Sunday as the Brewers, already ensured their first series loss at home this season, look to avoid being swept for the first time.

“They’re relentless at-bats,” Hoskins said of the Cubs. “It’s just professional at-bats up and down the lineup. They can beat you in a multitude of ways, and I think we’ve seen that either with the home run or stringing together a couple of hits and then a walk and then another good at-bat, and all of a sudden it’s a multi-run inning. We saw that a lot from ourselves last year.

“Maybe they have some bigger names over there. But with what we’re capable of doing and the pressure we can put on teams, I think we can score runs in bunches as well. We’re just not putting it together right now.”

Murphy’s theory is that the Brewers will turn a corner once they stabilize their pitching, and there are reasons for optimism on that front. Brandon Woodruff is scheduled to make his next rehab start for Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, then will probably make one more Minor League start before coming off the IL. If all goes right, his first Major League start since 2023 could fall during the Brewers’ May 16-18 home series against the Twins.

• Woodruff pitches into 6th for first time in rehab

Aaron Civale (hamstring) threw live batting practice on Saturday and is slated to start a rehab assignment at Triple-A Nashville on Wednesday. DL Hall (lat) began a rehab assignment on Saturday in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League and will be built up to start before the Brewers decide whether he fits best in the big league rotation or bullpen. Aaron Ashby (oblique) could be back in the Majors before the end of May in some role, Murphy said. Nestor Cortes (elbow) has reported “feeling better” and could return around the All-Star break.

“We’re bobbing and weaving and trying to survive, not lose too many rounds and then be in position to win a decision,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to knock them out like we did last year. This is a good journey, a good story. We can shock the [heck] out of you guys. That’s what we’re planning on.”